Mouly Surya

Mouly Surya (born 10 September 1980) is an Indonesian film director and screenwriter.

Beginning her career as assistant director and screenwriter in local film productions, Surya rose to prominence in 2008 for her directorial debut the psychological thriller Fiksi. which won her the Citra Award for Best Director. She won a second Best Director award at the 38th Citra Award for Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts ten years after winning her first.

Career

2007–2012: Debut, Cinesurya, and Citra Award for Best Director Upon graduation, Surya came back to Indonesia and gained experience in the local film industry by working as assistant directors in Rako Prijanto's comedy-drama D'Bijis (2007) and romance Love Is Red (2007).

In 2007, she acquired funding to direct Fiksi. based on a screenplay she developed herself. The film received critical acclaim, but failed commercially with only 30 thousand admissions. Overall, the film won four out of its ten nominations, the other three being Best Picture, Best Screenplay for Surya and Anwar, and Best Original Score.

2013–2018: History at Sundance and second Citra Award for Best Director In 2013, Surya wrote and directed her sophomore feature What They Don't Talk About When They Talk About Love. In January, the film made history as the first Indonesian film to compete at the Sundance Film Festival of that year in the World Dramatic Competition, where it also had its world premiere. Domestically, the film was released in May 2013. It stars Nicholas Saputra and Ayushita in the starring roles. The film is a romantic drama involving characters with different types of disabilities. The film performed poorly at the box office but received positive reviews from critics, with The Hollywood Reporter 's Duane Byrge calling it a "touching and brilliantly envisioned story of a young, nearly blind teen's first love."

Surya then released her third feature film Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts in 2017. It premiered at the Directors' Fortnight event of the 2017 Cannes Film Festival in May before receiving a domestic release later in November. A revenge drama-thriller, the film was only the fourth Indonesian film ever to make the festival's official selection after Eros Djarot's Tjoet Nja' Dhien and Garin Nugroho's Leaf on a Pillow in 1998 as well as Nugroho's Serambi in 2006. While Surya co-wrote the screenplay with husband and collaborator Rama Adi, Garin Nugroho is credited with the original story, which he shared with Surya while they were part of a Citra Award jury panel.

In a review for Variety following its Cannes screening, Maggie Lee gave the film a rave review, praising Surya's ability to "build nail-biting tension" with a climax that "rivals any of [Quentin] Tarantino's high concept violence". Lee's description of the film as having "pioneered a new genre" coined the term "satay Western" in reference to the film's Western style but told from a female perspective while incorporating Indonesia's traditional values.

At the 38th Citra Awards the following year, Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts received 15 nominations, breaking Teguh Karya's Mother's record of the most nominations received by a film ever with 10 in 1986. The record was later broken by Joko Anwar's Impetigore which received 17 nominations in 2020. It went on to win 10 awards, including Best Picture, a second Best Director for Surya, Best Actress for Marsha Timothy, Best Supporting Actress for Dea Panendra, and Best Original Screenplay for Surya and Adi. The film was selected as Indonesia's official entry for the Best Foreign Language Film category at the 91st Academy Awards, but failed to get a nomination.

In July 2018, Surya released a short music film We See You Jakarta on the YouTube channel of the English indie pop band The xx. The film features footage from the band's I See You Tour as well as rearranged music performed by the film's cast.

2019–present: Upcoming projects and international breakthrough In late 2019, Surya began production on an adaptation of Mochtar Lubis' novel A Road with no End, something Surya mentioned is a dream project for her. The film, titled This City Is a Battlefield, is a war drama set in 1946 just after Indonesia's independence the previous year. The film stars Ayushita and veteran actress Christine Hakim. The film was made while Surya was a student in Australia and contains dialogue in English.

In May 2020, Netflix announced that Surya will helm the action-thriller film Trigger Warning with a screenplay by Josh Olson (known for David Cronenberg's A History of Violence) and John Brancato (known for David Fincher's The Game). Jessica Alba stars as a PTSD afflicted former service-member who inherits her grandfather's bar and soon discovers the truth behind his death.

Personal life

Surya is married to Rama Adi, who co-founded their production company Cinesurya and has been involved in her first three films. Short film Year TitleDirectorWriter Producer 2018 We See You Jakarta 2020 Something Old, New, Borrowed and Blue Doll

Awards and nominations Beginning her career as assistant director and screenwriter in local film productions, Surya rose to prominence in 2008 for her directorial debut the psychological thriller Fiksi. which won her the Citra Award for Best Director. She won a second Best Director award at the 38th Citra Award for her satay Western Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts in 2017. As of 2020, she remains the first and only woman director to have won the award.